Literature at Middlebury

Students interested in Literature may pursue a major or a minor in the English and American Literatures Department, in any of the Language Departments, or a major in the Literary Studies Program or in the Comparative Literature Program.

Comparative Literature Major

This course of study prepares students to focus on the comparative study of national literatures. Students majoring in comparative literature will receive training in one or two of these literatures in the original language along with comparative methodology.

English and American Literatures

To view the requirements for the English and American Literatures major and minor requirements, please click here.

Literary Studies

LITS [The Program in Literary Studies] is intended for students who over the course of four years wish to secure a comprehensive background in a full range of the major achievements of world literature, and also to develop the ability to read and appreciate significant literary works in at least one language other than English. By the time they leave Middlebury, graduating seniors in Literary Studies will have achieved a close familiarity with the principal writings of such authors as Homer, Aeschylus, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Murasaki, Goethe, Wang Wei, Wordsworth, Baudelaire, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Melville, Faulkner, Proust, Kafka, and Joyce, as well as a dozen other literary figures of comparable stature and continuing importance. Students are free to count any literature course in the Middlebury College curriculum (and in approved programs abroad or at other U.S. institutions) toward completion of the Literary Studies major, but in their senior year they are required to complete a comprehensive examination that assesses their accomplishments as knowledgeable interpreters of a full spectrum of recognized literary works of enduring intellectual and artistic value in a variety of cultural traditions. For a full description of the program, please see the department listing under Literary Studies.